


He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

by diedandwenttonightvale



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Aro!Doctor, Aromantic, Aromantic Character, Bad Wolf Bay, F/M, Ten is aro and tentoo is not, the 'I love you' scene, wtfromantic!Doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-02
Packaged: 2018-03-04 23:52:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3097202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diedandwenttonightvale/pseuds/diedandwenttonightvale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose wants to know why Ten never said the words she always wanted to hear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

“Why did he never say it?” Rose asked from the other side of the room, unable to face the man she loved. “I barely knew you for two seconds before you said it, but he never did.”

The Doctor – John Smith, as he was now known – sighed. “He wasn’t sure that you would understand what he meant by the words.”

“What?”

John looked away, then back at her. “He wasn’t in love with you. At least, not the way you might understand it.” He sank into the sofa. “The way I loved as a Time Lord was… more complicated than the way I love as a human. I wasn’t…” He shook his head. “Romantic love wasn’t a concept I was entirely comfortable with.”

Rose half-laughed. “You mean you didn’t understand it.”

“Exactly. Friendship was easy. I’d had friends, companions, whatever you want to call them, for hundreds of years. I knew how to be friends. But when something seemed different to friendship… I could never be certain. Humans seemed to be able to see that friendship and romance line so clearly, but I never could. That’s why he couldn’t say it to you; he wanted something with you, he just didn’t know what. If he’d said those words, there would have been no going back.”

Rose nodded, thinking about it, before saying, “You know, you – he. He could’ve told me.”

“I shouldn’t have told you, should I?” John ran a hand through his hair.

Rose smiled at him in that way she had that meant she really wasn’t okay. “I’m glad you did. I just don’t understand why he didn’t.”

“Oh, Rose. The things he didn’t tell you could have filled a thousand encyclopaedias. He just didn’t have the words. He wasn’t sure how to make you understand.”

She walked closer and sat on the sofa beside him. “But you could.”

John grinned. “Oh, yes. I have a knack for that.” He tapped his head. “I have his memories, his alien mind… and my human memories. I can relate to him and I can relate to you. Magic, really.”

“Is it…” She looked away for a second. “Is it an alien thing? Is that why he couldn’t love me, because he was an alien and I was just – ”

He didn’t let her finish her sentence, and suffocated her words with a hug. “Oh, Rose Tyler, you were never ‘just’ anything, and I have always loved you.” He pulled back and sniffed. “Besides, it’s not only a Time Lord thing. It’s just another one of those things that humans haven’t learnt about yet. You’ll get to it in a skip and a jump, I’m sure.”

Rose smiled and tapped him lightly on the arm. “No more of that ‘humans’ business, Mr Smith. You’re one of us now.”

“Oh yes.” He cringed. “One of the humans. How…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence. I’ve had enough trouble trying to get Torchwood to treat you as anything but an enemy without word getting out that you called us something awful.”

“I was going to say wonderful. But you’re right, you are awful.”

“You –”


End file.
